A Local Slaughterhouse Lacks Local Customers

A Collaboration Of Farmers And UConn Could Revive Stafford Springs Business

December 06, 2011|Susan Campbell

For nearly seven years, Mohamed Beqiri has run the state's largest USDA-inspected slaughterhouse, Brothers Quality Inc. in Stafford Springs.

Beqiri, who is Muslim, slaughters halal meat using Islamic-approved methods. Customers include individuals and retail outlets from Boston to New York — though few local residents frequent his business.

Today the business is struggling. Beqiri has shut down the processing part of his business to focus on the slaughter of goats and lambs. He'd like to grow, but he doesn't have proper staffing, and regulations are specific about the processing end of the business. In the middle of a national movement to eat more locally produced food, the slaughterhouse occasionally faces nimbyism, although an independent study last year — an odor impact assessment — found nothing untoward, and an earlier Department of Energy and Environmental Protection citation regarding the disposal of manure has been corrected, Beqiri said.

The town's first selectman says the slaughterhouse — which has been in town as long as anyone can remember — could be part of the town's revival. Stafford Springs First Selectman Richard Shuck remembers buying meat at the facility years ago, under different management.

"Unfortunately, people just don't seem to patronize it," he said. "They'll go to Arnold's up in Massachusetts, or over to Bogner's. I wish they would patronize our local businesses. I think we all need to be self-sufficient.

"I would like to see Brothers opened back up as a butcher shop, said Shuck. "It would be nice to get a nice prime rib."

Brothers is one of just a handful of USDA-inspected slaughterhouses in the state, and there may be hope. An area consultant has come up with a collaboration among local farmers and the University of Connecticut. John Guszkowski, a senior planner at the design firm CME Associates who also works with Eastern Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development Council, heard about the slaughterhouse through a local farmer who wanted to help Beqiri.

"Mohamed is a good guy, an American success story, and he wants to succeed here," said Guszkowski.

Without a local outlet, state farmers must transport meat to neighboring states, which adds cost and puts stress on the animals. A 2009 University of Connecticut study said the lack of a USDA-inspected slaughter and processing facility has hampered agricultural production and expansion. In fact, 74 percent of Connecticut producers said they would expand beef production if they had such facilities nearby.

Beqiri said he slaughters roughly 1,500 goats and 80 cattle a week for the kosher/halal market, but he could do far more. Originally from Albania, Beqiri started in the business in New Jersey at the age of 17. "I love what I do, honestly," he said. "This is where I want to be. I don't know anything else."

Guszkowski's plan could include a retail outlet.

"I think you'll see that Brothers will become a much more vibrant and viable place from an economic perspective and a community perspective," said Guszkowski. "It would empower that next step, the producer having the convenience of a local facility would allow them to increase their herd."